Which men's skater's artistry do you prefer?

[Giu]

When it comes to artistry the Japanese are hard to beat... I love Yuzuru, Shoma and Kazuki... Shoma has a natural connection with music and he can take you by the hand and take you on the ice with him like no one else...
I like also the new Bojang Jin

And among the skaters of the past I can’t not mention Denis Ten and Tatsuki Machida

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Andrew Torgashev. Absolutely. I enjoy watching his sublime skating more than the top US men.

 

[eppen]

How could I have missed this thread?? (Oh, springtime, I was pretty busy back then...)

I started watching figure skating more or less because of Robin Cousins in 1980, continued to love the sport with Petr Barna and Kurt Browing in the 1990s. Then there was a long gap with no particular favourites - I could not have cared less of the whole Yagudin/Plushenko thing (but if I have to choose, Yagudin). Liked Lambiel, liked Chan, loved Takahashi a bit more, but was hit by the Spanish bomb in the fall of 2014. Still not quite over the impact. Love him funny, lighthearted, fierce, lyrical, love his attention to detail, the ability to make the movement feel real whatever he is doing, his amazing capacity to tell stories. And all that with technical difficulty matched by only a handful of others.

It is kind of difficult to get excited of anybody else currently. But I try to watch. Liked Deniss Vasiljevs and hope he will be able to drag himself up from the current slump. Kevin Aymoz is developing to be quite a performer (hope he is able to handle the tech). Matteo Rizzo is not quite as interesting, but fine in the Euro scene. If I have to choose between Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu, I take Nathan who does different styles with some credibility.

I have never been a great fan of Russian skaters for some reason (also no US skaters), but Dimitri Aliev is somewhat interesting. And those junior boys who I hope will get through the next couple of years, through growth spurts, learning new jumps and keeping that rare performance quality: Artur Danielian, Artem Kovalev and Andrey Kutovoy.

E

 

[mrrice]

Of the Men that I have seen "skate live" Todd Eldredge was the first. Deep edges and fast as lightening. Plushy....Light, beautiful, and big jumps. Believe it or not, Patrick Chan is the last World Champion I saw live and it was before he became World Champion. He was so amazing. Like Todd, he sounded a train due to exceptional edges. Loved all 3 Men.

I'm hoping to see some of our current champions in the near future.

 

[siberia82]

I started following this sport in Mar. 2008, so I'm going to list my favourites in chronological order (specifically when I fell in love with their musicality).

Jeffrey Buttle, Johnny Weir, Daisuke Takahashi, Tomas Verner, Jeremy Abbott, Kristoffer Berntsson, Fedor Andreev, Adam Rippon, Shawn Sawyer, Ryan Bradley, Roman Sadovsky, Nicolas Nadeau, Joseph Phan, Matthew Markell (he's the 2018 Canadian junior champion, for those of you who don't know who he is), Iliya Kovler, Stephen Gogolev.

 

[IndiaP12]

Andrei Kutovoi. It’s as if he is the music when he skates. He understands every note. That’s so rare for a 13 year old because many others are just worrying about preparing for the next jump. I hope he’s able to sustain the tech as he gets older, because then he will become a huge contender[emoji1374]

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Must say I'm quite heartened by the positive tone of this thread and the fact that people are showing their appreciation for a broad range of skaters
On seeing the words 'artistry and 'prefer' in the title I was a little worried I'd be stepping into a war zone, but this has renewed my faith in figure skating fandom!

My artists all seem to retire (or worse) far too early... some examples:

Josh Farris (I hope people remember him, and I'm glad he is slowly returning to the FS world in a different role)
Denis Ten cry
Jeff Buttle (at least we were blessed with a few more years of him as a performer!)

Regarding the current juniors, I agree that Kutovoi has real potential on the artistic front (and more!). He caught my eye at test skates, even before Ted drew attention to him in Courchevel.

 

[asiacheetah]

Artistry is such a vague term and can mean something different to everyone.

To me I have programs and styles I prefer over whether I think a skater has "artistry" all the time. For instance, I might like one of Shoma's program, but after several seasons of the same style, I'm kinda over it.

Of course the exception to my own musings, is Yuzu who's "artistry" I prefer to all other men currently still competing.

In no particular order, some of my favorite programs that showed off a skater's skills paired with perfect music and choreography:

1. Yuzuru: Hope and Legacy - my absolute favorite program. Not even Seimei can top it in my mind.
2. Yagudin: Winter
3. Boyang: Spider-Man (yes I know he isn't known as an artistic skater, but this program is SO CHARMING)
4. Lambiel (basically anything I've seen from him)
5. Jason: Riverdance

I'm just going to stop there.

 

[TontoK]

Must say I'm quite heartened by the positive tone of this thread and the fact that people are showing their appreciation for a broad range of skaters

Excellent comment.

Raphael was an artist. So was Jackson Pollack.

They had different points of view, that's for sure, but each holds a place of reverence for different folk.

My ideal skater has a Raphael baseline, with a good splash of Jackson Pollack's boldness and courage laid on top.

A pure Raphael skater would be too prissy for my tastes, but I also don't like the bull in the china shop approach. Refinement is still necessary.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Jason Brown; Kurt Browning; Josh Farris; Patrick Chan; Jeffrey Buttle; Jeremy Abbott; Kurt Browning; Alexei Yagudin; Shoma Uno; Brian Boitano; Yuzuru Hanyu; Daisuke Takahashi.

 

[skatergurl7]

Nathan - he’s pushing the boundaries and is bringing something fresh to every program in a field full of warehouses. Jason’s programs are beautiful but they are starting to blur together for me, same nice music with similar choreo. Yuzu (and plushenko in his day) bring that “look at me” quality and ownership of the ice that no one else at the moment has

 

[TallyT]

Balancing sport and art is an incredible feat in itself, and so many of them have to be commended for getting a high level... and there are quite a few where I see it sometimes and then at other times, not so much.

But Yuzuru not only takes it to a level that makes so many people catch their breath for the whole time he is on ice, he is probably the only one who does for me what the best dancers/actors/artists/composers do, make me lose myself in wondering....

"What do you see? Can I, just maybe, see it too?"

 

[Beckaboomer]

To reiterate what several others have said, "artistry" can be a term that is very vague and everyone has such strong opinions that these discussions can quickly devolve into "defending" your faves because they're not everybody's faves. I'm glad this thread has avoided that (so far).

For myself, when I think of artistry in skating I think of someone who can weave a spell on the ice - someone I can't take my eyes off of because every beat means something. So I'd say my favorite artists in the men's skating discipline would be: Stephan Lambiel, Johnny Weir, Daisuke Takahashi, Yuzuru Hanyu, Jason Brown, Josh Farris, Alexei Yagudin, John Curry, and more. Honestly I can find something to enjoy in almost any skater, there are very few people I truly dislike to watch because every skater has such a unique point of view.

 

[ladyjane]

I have been and still am in love with Yagudin's Winter SP. Now, that was a step sequence to remember. I liked his FS to Man in the Iron Mask too, but the SP was the thing. I'll never forget Alexander Abt's SP to Armenian Folk Music either. Choreographed by himself too. If that isn't artistic, I don't know what is. Cousins (even longer ago) also impressed me. Don't get me wrong I love Hanyu and Chen both, but to me the greatest artist today is Keven Amoz. He might not land all his jumps cleanly, but his musicality is superb. And interpreting the music is also artistic. And let's not forget Takahashi who did a great job too. One of my personal favourites also is the French Philippe Candeloro's Three Musketeers. That step sequence encompassing a duel. What a joy to watch. And I'm not even mentioning Stephan, Johnny and Jason whom I also enjoy watching, whether there's a quad or not. But their transitions.....yes, Patrick too!

 

[WeakAnkles]

The one skater who has yet to be mentioned -- and I am rather surprised by this to be honest -- is Christopher Dean.

Both as a skater and as a choreographer, the man's artistry is always compelling and first rate. His vision changed ice dance forever (and thank goodness because he saved us from an eternity of Lawrence Welkmania On Ice).

So I'm giving him an Extra Special Shoutout.

 

[el henry]

The one skater who has yet to be mentioned -- and I am rather surprised by this to be honest -- is Christopher Dean.

Both as a skater and as a choreographer, the man's artistry is always compelling and first rate. His vision changed ice dance forever (and thank goodness because he saved us from an eternity of Lawrence Welkmania On Ice).

So I'm giving him an Extra Special Shoutout.

My reading of the query was for men's singles skaters, but you are right: whenever a young'un says, oh, I don't get it, what was so special about Torvill and Dean, I think, clearly you never saw a 70's ice dancer. Christopher Dean:agree:

And that's why I dislike god-awful spliced music cuts today. They remind me of 70's ice dance

 

[dorispulaski]

They remind me of Jill Trenary and other skaters from Carlo Fassi's school. About 6 unrelated cuts per Free Skate.

 

[noskates]

Just read back through this thread and find it interesting how different people/posters have such diverse opinions about who displays great artistry. Don't know if some of it is based on nationalism but I probably agree with most and disagree with many. In my original post I forgot to mention Lambiel and Yagudin. I remember watching Plush and Yagudin in their early days and thinking Alexei was by far the better entertainer with those magic feet and his musicallity. In any case, we all have our opinions and they're usually based on different criteria. Isn't it refreshing to note that there were wonderful skaters in all the Olympic quads....

 

[eppen]

Some time ago I read this article on movie critics and audiences (in Forbes from 2018) and I think it sort of explained a lot for me. It was based on an actual study of analyzing movies critics and audience perception and what's behind them. Basically the professionals - the critics - are very often trained in similar ways and they evaluate movies based on certain criteria, mostly movies as works of art. General audiences tend to view movies more from the point of view of entertainment value and that could be the reason why the two review and value movies in very diverse ways most often. And that there is really no way to say who is right or wrong. You like what you like, some people think like you, some don't.

IMO that applies to skating as well - the judges have been trained to look at certain things and judge them and their judgement can be very different from what the fans think. The fans like who they like and that is determined by a bunch of things and it is difficult to say how that really works. Basically, arguing about what artistry is and who is better at it or not, is not really worthwhile... Discussing it can be very interesting, but just don't expect to end up in a consensus with everybody agreeing!

Looking at my list, I tend to like fairly masculine guys who are also strongly extroverted performers. They tend to have storylines in their programs, most have ability to do very different styles with ease and credibility. I also like the combination of this to technical excellence which makes the good performances to even higher levels coz you know how hard that is. Sometimes I have soft spots for other kinds as well, but those are usually just passing flings...

E

 

[noskates]

EPPEN - Standing O for you. Totally agree with everything you said.

I also think that no country stands out above another - each country has it's great performers. And actually, let's give some credit to the choreographers who give these guys the programs.